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Building A Path To Success Through Fun Visual Tools

Seeking the path of least resistance is human nature, but it’s not necessarily the best path to a fulfilling or successful career. There’s a big difference between just ‘checking the box’ and excelling. Read on to learn how I use creativity to inspire my team to think differently about their day to day.

Let’s face it. We’re all super busy, all the time. It’s only natural to look for the fastest, most efficient way to knock off to-dos. But do this too often and you’re apt to slip into a routine where you don’t question things or push yourself. I often hear people say, “I’m doing everything that’s asked of me, I just don’t understand why it isn’t working.” I do my best to tell people that there’s a big difference between painting by numbers and making art, and there’s a similar difference between ‘checking a box’ and being thoughtful about your work and going the extra mile to ensure success.

Breaking out of this type of daily routine is often the difference between a successful career and a frustrating one. At MicroStrategy, I encourage my team to think differently about their daily tasks and create an environment that helps them avoid going on autopilot. A great example of this is the infographic my team built on ‘lead dating.’

The goal of the infographic is to challenge the mindset that identifying a lead is a ‘one-and-done’ process. This is the brainchild of my highly creative head of Marketing Communications. He knows that we live in a visual society and that people have short attention spans, which is why he decided to go with an infographic approach. This information could easily have been put in a word document, a PowerPoint, or even a SharePoint page—and it would have stayed there, unused. But by showing some creativity and a bit of humor, he created a piece of collateral that’s visual, engaging, and, best of all, used by people in sales and marketing to help them do their jobs better. What more could you ask for?

This type of fun, visual tool is a great way to engage employees and help them see their roles in a new light. There are only so many hours in a day, and we’re constantly on the hunt for creative ways to inspire our employees and help them do their jobs more successfully. And it never hurts to have a little fun along the way.

One of our newest instructors, Shizuka comes from a business intelligence background focused on software analytics training. She is a MicroStrategy Certified Designer. Shizuka spends her free time as the lead drummer in the Tokyo Pipe Band, a Scottish bagpipe band.